Squirrel

Saturday, October 31, 2009

While at the state fair we stopped and enjoyed the show of this cowboy and his two horses. He was a very energetic guy who loved his horses. They did some good tricks and he was so good to his animals. Another summer memory to share.

In the Acadia National Park, our son took us on a hike to see bridges. I will share about these old stone bridges later. The Roosevelt's built them so they could take carriage rides around his island that he owned and they spared no expense. But the bridges were made to cross over the mountain streams. So as we approach a bridge you can go down under on a path and see the wonderful rocks and running water. I guess the streams are fed by a lot of springs as their was no snow to be melted there to create them.

It was a beautiful day and the sun created rainbows for us to see as the water rushed by heading down the hill.

Friday, October 30, 2009

I have the door frame done on the inside of the new door but I have not really done much decoration on it. I am going to walk away from it for now and work on making it fancier later. I will finish by painting the door a color also.

Here is view of the gallery corner. My wife and I have a home gallery business and have been framing for ourselves and others for 23 years. A lot of the painting on the wall are my wife's as she paints and sells on the internet regularly. A lot of them on the wall have no frames as they are sold without frames. It makes shipping less expensive and most people want to pick out their own frame after they have received the painting. I put as many of them up so they are in view for those who come to the shop. Some of the paintings are mine also, but most are Della's. That top painting on the right is mine and it has a sold sign on it. Many times people say, please hold that until I get the money together. This whole area was reworked because of the door being put in so I wanted to show it off to you.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

This is how I am feeling this morning. My old laptop is being difficult. It was my school computer and I bought it from the school when I retired out of there and it was worn out is wearing out more. What really is wearing out is the battery. You wouldn't know this but as I blog sitting on the couch, my computer was heating up and warming my lap. The battery function was shorting out, and charging, then not charging, and just messing around. I finally put a book between me and the computer but yesterday, it balked. The computer should work without any battery charge, with it plugged into the wall, but the battery wasn't allowing the current to flow through it to the computer. My wife got on Amazon last night and ordered a new battery. it should be here Wednesday. So I may be gone for awhile. I like by GS 14 Mac, but I need to buy a large hd to store my thousands of pictures and a few important documents, I think that I don't want the harddrive to go next.The dogs belong to my son and his wife in Maine. They are sweet dogs and Aaron and Keegan pick them up and hold them like babies. They are gentle dogs.

Monday, October 26, 2009

My neighbor lady, two houses over, across the street, has two very large trees. They are a white barked tree and their leaves are very large. I researched it and found out that it is a sycamore. It drops it's leaves while they are green.

When I walk the dog, it is neat to look down and see this green carpet. There are a few yellow maple leaves mixed in with them, but the predominately green color is kind of a nice change to all the red and yellow.

Of course, there is a story. When the tornado hit our town a few years ago, debris was dropped everywhere. In this first tree, hung one of these very large trusses, that came from a garage that had been demolished. It was dropped from the sky and hung up there in the top of the tree. Another one, same size of truss, lay on the sidewalk across the street, next to the corner of our property. I didn't get to see them remove it but I am sure they had to have some one crawl up there and cut the branch that was holding it up there. I tried to lift, foolishly, the one on the sidewalk and it took a crane or many men to pick that up, they are heavy, made up of many two by four boards.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

I purchased this last year to plant this year and it just didn't happen. I was watching Victory Garden this afternoon and a man was cooking with this, young corn and not harden yet, or dried out. He was making succotash with the corn, pumpkin, beans, and a whole lot of vegetables that I can't remember. I dug out my corn to show you. It was hard to photograph as the corn reflects back at you in the light.

My dad, Jesse T. Burgus, was such a patient man. We were poor farmers and he planted corn with a four row corn planter mounted to his International Harvester tractor. His crazy kid would come along while he was loading the seed boxes with corn, and he would let me put shelled Indian corn in with the good seed. In the fall I would watch my dad bring in the loads of corn, which was on the cob, it wasn't shelled back then. I would just sort out the multi-colored corn as dad emptied the corn into the hopper of the elevator. It was like Christmas pulling those different multi-colored ears of corn.That is why I bought the corn to plant, I wanted to grow it just for the fun of it Nest spring I will put it on my list to do.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

it wasn't cold and it didn't rain every day. Three inches of rain so far. It has quit for now. My neighbors are saying we had four inches of rain so I need to go look at my gauge again.

Yellow kitty has had health problems but she is an old cat. We feed her small amounts of food every couple of hours, soft food, and water on dry food. Her teeth are bad and or are missing and she got so thin, but she is now coming back. She has a belly on her now and her fur is so soft again. She is over thirteen years old, maybe more, so she doesn't wander far from the front porch. I was out taking photos last month and she came out to watch. She lives in the basement when she isn't on the porch, as Barney is too fascinated with her. She has not a shred of fear when she is around him and will walk in front of him with out a care, but with Barney in the house and birds in the house, she lives and roams the basement.

Friday, October 23, 2009

My last fall day photo, taken Monday, of what is in the front of my house. The birch tree on the right started to scatter it's leaves on the ground and the young maple, which is red has done well. I wished I knew the kind that it is but I just don't. I planted it when they cut down the 100 year old tree that stood directly in front of this new one. It has rained continually and the majority of the leaves on the birch are now gone. It was too wet to take a shot so I will do it later when we dry out.I really think you should click on the photo to see the whole effect. I got lucky with this shot and just this day. The clear sky in the background down the road is three blocks down and you are in the country. A field of young heifers live there.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Sometimes when you shoot you haven't a clue what you will have for the final result. This is one more leaf picture, looking more like an abstract painting. The leaves are falling here like falling rain. We will get an actual rain tonight and that just makes the drop go faster.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

I have some new orchids from the master garden center of Walmart. It took quite a few tries to get these two shots. I am a novice, a beginner, heck I think they are called moth orchids and they say people like me could be successful at keeping them alive.

This is a color of an orchid that I haven't seen before. It was loaded with many buds, all ready to bloom someday.I picked up a book a few weeks ago at the bookstore and skimmed through it. It was created by a husband and wife team from the U of Iowa area. They were scientist and were the photographers for the book. The book was written about all the many prairie land reserves in Iowa. The fascinating part for me was all of the wild orchids, small specimens, that have grown in Iowa and are still out there in the wild today. The larger Lady Slipper grows in northern Iowa, but many different orchids of all colors grow wild in Iowa. Who would have ever thought that would be?

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Top view of a great maple tree. When they reach this color, sadly the leaves start to fall. I hope we can keep them for the week. Below is the bottom view of this tree.

I like the lines of trees in winter but they are also stunning against the leaves also. My birch tree is about to reach it's peak of pure yellow but I will wait another day to shoot it. The sun has not shown much around here lately, but Sunday morning it was bright and beautiful. The sun can make these trees glow.As a footnote, I plan to show you these trees in the snow. We pay for our beautiful trees by going into hibernation in the freezing cold and snow.

Monday, October 19, 2009

As I harvested blooms from my zinnia's this white zinnia had already started to shut down for the season. One couldn't ask for a better texture and mottled color that this. The entire tray of blooms are now all shriveled and dried out. I think I will wait on more week before I put the seed in envelops.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Another view of my neighbors yellow maple tree. It has stopped raining and we may warm up on Monday.

Another rural view of Iowa. When I was a kid I hired out to the neighbors to make hay. The bales were square and we had to stack them, interweaving them, on the rack so they wouldn't fall off. This rack sitting here next to these big round bales is a little confusing, as these bales are usually too heavy to be carried on a hay rack. Normally they are loaded on a low long trailer. They use a lift system mounted on the front of a tractor with a hoist system. Two per trailer and they travel down the road to where they can be stored. I suppose they could put one on the rack, flat side down.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

This maple tree sits across the street from us on the east side. It really is spectacular right now. It was dripping wet out there when I took these but there was plenty of light to take them. My birch tree is way behind this maple. I am thinking that it may not be it's bright yellow this year.

This maple is a different maple than the one above, as it will be mostly orange before it is through. It is on the north of us and there are two of these great maples. They were planted by owners 34 years ago. The city ordered them to trim this tree up on one side as it was hanging more than it's required 15 feet in the street. It was a shame but it is filling in spite of the city's silly rules.

Friday, October 16, 2009

I am going to have to change my title to Larry's Photo's a Day. I have a large amount of photos from the Bar Harbor area. I like the photos as they are like a visual artwork in themselves. I bet someone who smokes would go crazy when they first see this sign. It really is a fantastic graphic design. I like all the painted green trim.

This is another great sign to advertise a bar. I suppose they must have had a veranda at the back of the building. That light and streetlight enhanced the feeling of being in New England.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

I had a chance to take photos today out the window of the truck as I headed north through the country to get to the landfill. The silos you see here are a part of a farming enterprise, that existed 50 years ago or more. North of our town is a state institution that was built to segregate and house the mentally infirm, confused and what any thing that they could find to dump or find a reason to put them into this place. It was a horrible idea back then as they easily locked people up because they didn't understand their disease. On this state property, they created a large farm complex that grew large amounts of food to help feed all of the residents. Those who could work, worked along other employees who farmed and harvested the produce. They canned big time to feed everyone. A lot of the adjoining buildings, barns and canning buildings are still standing there.This is a bleak time in our history and the times have definitely change. Some people who use to be classified to stay there, now would be and are sent to nursing homes. Others receive treatment and stay in smaller types of homes. Those who are there now are called clients and each person is undergoing a training or skill if possible. They never stop trying to help them and they are to be commended for their work. They may never ever change but they are treated as if the could. The silos haven't been used in years and they rent out the state land to farmers now. Residents, then called patients, and now called clients actually live in newly built modern group dormitories with 24 hour care. The older residence halls are still standing and used for training purposes. They are all brick buildings built with fancy entree ways that you would see out east, classical architecture. As a side point, my own first cousin, who is 60 years old now, has lived, since the age of 12, in another institution in the western part of the state of Iowa. If they knew then what they know now, I really believe he could have been treated chemically to straighten out his mental imbalance and maybe not have been placed where is, but now will be kept probably for the rest of his life.Sorry that a simple set of silos can bring on so much information. I really have held back a lot of info. I have other farms scenes to share and I definitely took landfill pictures. I know you are anxious to see those but you will have to wait.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Geranium, garden variety, that I have worked all summer to finally get a good red in the photo of the plant.

A surprise find this morning while carrying in plants to the spare room. Violets like to dry out to help it start the blooming process and believe you and me, they are very dry. They deserve a good drink of water and I will do that right after I finished doing my blogging.

I brought in my impatience plants which are not looking so good but I can encourage a few more blooms from them for awhile before the furnace heat takes it out. My humidifier helps but it is just too dry in the house when the heat runs all day.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

An old church posting on Sunday is a good thing. This is a private residence but it is quite an architectural beauty. It sits on Mr. Dessert Island, Acadia National Park area, in Maine. We visited a shore line area and got lost, so we were able to go by this building twice. The last time, I rolled down my window and snapped a few pictures.I like the tower cap as it reminds me of the Russian onion domes. Now I would be willing to think that it is a school instead of a church, but I think it is too fancy for a school. I don't think they would build a little room below the bell unless it was a church. One has to be curious if they cut larger openings to put in the palladian windows, or they took out stained glass windows and replaced them with these. Only a local older resident could probably give us an answer.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

I made this trellis from recycled wood that was thrown away in the school dumpster. It is actually oak wood, and it had been trim board in a wrestling room that was being converted into three classrooms. One would never use such a hardwood for a trellis but it was better that I use the wood than have it sitting in the bottom of a landfill. Because of the type of wood, I had to pre-drill holes that would make it possible to put it together with nails. The vine is a wild one that grows up every year. I think it is a hops vine as it eventually puts out seed pods.

Friday, October 9, 2009

As I was out taking pictures of the maple trees in my area, I intentionally headed toward my friendly neighbors yard. The former owner of this house was a friend of ours and we raised all of her four boys with our two boys. When she moved away she had left some wonderful flowers. This hydrangea may be two plants but I suppose it could be just one, with two different colors of flowers. I am not an expert on these plants but I did want to share them.I really like my old fashioned white hydrangea but these are stunning plants. Hard freeze is predicted for the weekend so I will watch to see what happens to this plant.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

A three foot tall pin oak tree reveals many facets of texture and color. I blogged this tree before as a solid yellow green tree, a photo is seen on the side panel of this page at the bottom of the blog.

Oak leaves changes it's colors a little bit differently that maple leaves. The shapes of an oak tree leaf is unique and they grow in bunches. No acorns are formed on a pin oak tree.

A light reflection can change the view from color to gray. Shiny leaves they maintain until the final end. The pin oak will not drop it's leaves until late spring. It makes it a brown tree all winter and the leaves produce a rustling sound when the wind blows. It is a very distinct sound.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

We are headed to a hard freeze very soon. I decided to harvest my zinnia crop now and start drying them out. The white zinnias are already dead and I had to be sure I actually had a flower that still had seed.

A few years back, Victory Garden visited a garden of a woman, I don't know her name, but she was a photography artist. She would buy large varieties of roses and lay them out on a board and photograph them. I think you have seen some of her work when Hallmark carried wrapping paper that was covered with the printed images of roses. I haven't seen any of her work lately, but I was reminded of her work when I was tossing these in this old photography tray. It wasn't my plan but I am pleased with what happened.

I have these out on the porch right now so some of the insects can escape, then I will take them to my basement to dry them out. I will sort the white ones out of the pile so I can keep them separate. Fortunately for me I have many compositions snapped from this. I hope you don't get too tired of them. I will scatter them throughout the weeks.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

I had a lot of fun messing with this mum that I bought for my wife. It is full of small blooms, but the camera makes them look much larger. I didn't know how many pictures to show you, is two enough, are three too many?

Maybe more pictures and less talk. That is what I will do. Enjoy the colors and the shapes.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

My four year old maple is growing strong and straight. No leaves have turned on it except this one leaf that has a tear. The tear must have set up the conditions that turned it red early. The rest of the tree is still very green.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

I have been sharing on my Larry's Creative Zone about the small town of Murray, Iowa. I want to share just the one photo here of this brick building. I am told that my Uncle Carl owned this building before I was born and he ran an Implement Store. I only knew it as Kimball Implement, and my dad worked for them at one time as a mechanic. I really don't know if he was working there before he was drafted into the war, or he worked there when he returned from the war. Maybe my older brothers know, no one else to ask. The building sold International Harvester tractors and repaired all kinds of tractors. When I was in grade school my Uncle Leo was one of the main mechanics there.As a good business move, in the early 60's, the Kimball's moved their business to Osceola, a much larger city and they sold tractors and equipment with a large inventory always on hand. My Uncle Leo went with the business to continue working for them. I am not sure if there is a strong business in this building now. I have seen people around and working on cars. They don't have a sign to identify themselves. The building is a more modern building compared to the wood structure across the street or the fire station which is a lot older. The bench is in memory to someone in town.The picture has a lot of other things going on in it. You can see down main street where it is all residential houses. Can you see the Methodist Church? The town had this church on the north side of the tracks and two other churches were on the south side of the tracks. Fortunately the train line is the main passenger line for southern Iowa so the train still goes through town.

Friday, October 2, 2009

When it rains and you have nothing to do, it is a good day to mellow out. Right, I agree but I have so many things to do. Even Button the dog doesn't like the rain. Button doesn't get very dirty while out in the rain, but I have to walk Barney, the border guy, as he can get so dirty, and run around the kitchen table a few times to leave footprints on the linoleum.

The patterns on the water are always changing. The one large goldfish doesn't mind the rain. I will set up my 55 gallon tank in the basement in the next couple of weeks and bring in the fish. I hope I don't wait so long that it is snowing when I do the task.